While You Were Out
by Freightrain
Summary: What Happened between the last 2 scenes of the movie? SPOILERS! Follow Astrid as she deals with friends, Stoick, Gobber, Toothless, and her own emotions as come home with their hero, eagerly anticipating his awakening, doing what they can in the meantime.
1. Moving

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Well, most of 'im."

What did he mean by that? Astrid ran forward, bold legs traversing the foggy ground. _Most of him? How can you save most of him? _She faltered upon reaching the left side of Stoick the Vast, and looked...

Oh...

Her eyes spied the leg of hiccup, twisted unnaturally and charred through the boot, as she fell to her knees. She couldn't remember the least time she felt tears trickle down her face. _Oh hiccup..._

"Hey, beast, what'd my son call ye..." Stoick said, turning his eyes towards the tired Night Fury. "Toother, or Toothlie, or Tooth-Toothless?"

"Yes, that's his name," she confirmed as she gently pet the scaly head of the dark dragon, "His name is Toothless..." She remembered her introduction to the fully toothed dragon. Astrid wondered why as she peeked towards the mouth she was resting on, to see no teeth. Looking deeper, the pearly whites were deep inside holes under the gum line.

"Can you move, Toothless?" Stoick asked, removing the boy from the underside of the dragon. The great reptile folded its wings and... couldn't right itself. Looking at Toothless' eye, she saw how worn he was. He was somewhat hurt, the pain was there, but the exhaustion dominated the face... somehow she could tell. It was different than even the other dragons. More emotional, more... intelligent. No wonder it and Hiccup got along so well. She smiled at the thought of the boy, standing up and placing her hand on his forehead, feeling his burns and his ruffled hair.

"Apparently not, eh?" Why don't we take ol Toother o'er to the beach an' see what we can salvage from the ships, Stoick?" Gobber paused and his eyes met her own. "I'm willing to bet your boy is safe in her hands." She smiled at the idea, and wait... _was she blushing? _

"Can you carry him, Astrid?" Stoick asked, turning to the girl. _Of course I can, who do you think I am? Hiccu..._

Her response was swift as the wind as the man flinched from her solid punch in his forearm. "All right, here, take him and follow the two of us." Stoick nearly laughed as he handed the poor child over to her. Gobber laughed and said something about old times as the duo moved to the sides of the dragon. She was a bit surprised at just how heavy he was, but the boy was still light to her. His face bore the brunt of the burns, and his hair and cloths were charred. And there was the leg, the mother of all battle-scars to a viking, left from the slaying of the mother of all dragons. She brought his head up and kissed his cheek, and prayed to Thor for him.

"All right, Astrid, lets get going!" Gobber shouted as she looked up. There was her teacher and the chief lifting the behemoth. Stoick led in front, supporting the head and front-side as Gobber trailed his move, and a black tail swished slowly along the ground. Moving out behind them, she noticed the oddity of the tail of the dragon.

_Why was there only one wing? _She knew he would be grounded forever now, after this battle. How would hiccup take knowing that? Hadn't there been something there before when she looked back, some other kind of tail? _Thats how he managed it..._ Toothless couldn't fly unless he had Hiccup's prosthetic tail. What had taken off the Night Fury's tai...

Hiccup had hit the Night fury that third time, the time when everyone made fun of him for making up stories again. And suddenly she was plagued with guilt, again. They had been making fun of him for years. And she had done one worse... she'd completely ignored him, not even giving him the chance to mess up. He had been the Viking Night Fury, the one who never showed himself to the others, to her. She'd trained every day she could remember, and had risen to the top from dedication and perseverance. His own dedication had made him the fool for years, his perseverance had been in just living. She bowed her head as she passed the surrounding crowd, ashamed of herself.

But Odin had allowed him to live, somehow, and she'd make it up to him, somehow. _But what does a viking do, a girl do, to get the guy who's not interested in strength and skill with a sword and an ax?_ Somehow, she would think of something. She liked him, and while it definitely wouldn't be easy, she'd figure something out. Bang your head on a rock long enough, and it's bound to break after all, wasn't it?

As they came to the beach, Toothless was laid down on the ground before the boats, his eyes shut. She sat down and leaned on his thick neck, the rider of the Night Fury still in her hands. She smiled, taking a moment to dry her face, and rubbed her hand along his soft face.

Yes, she'd find some way to make it up to Hiccup, and if she was lucky she'd snag him up along the way as well. She set him down next to the dragon as some Medicine women came in to look at the boy. While versed in medical technique, she didn't have the supplies nor the experience the women had. With one last glance, and smile, at the boy she walked back over to Gobber and Stoick.

"This isn't good, Gobber... there's no time for jokes. How are we going to get home?"

"Well, we need to start repairing the boats, piece together what we can with what's left. But there probably is only going to be enough pieces for perhaps four boats, six at best." Gobber paused and looked down at the young teen girl as she walked up next to the two. "You think she has a thing for the hiccups?" Blushing hard, she was about to punch him in the arm when he flinched from the other side. Stoick turned and looked at her.

Was he smiling? That beard was getting in the way too much.

"You're a competent young lady, Astrid. I didn't see you struggle with Hiccup physically at all." She beamed back, but before she could thank him he continued. "What do you know about dealing with dragons?"

"Well, Hiccup did most of the taming, but he did talk a little bit to me about it on our second trip, the one on the way here."

"Oh, what was your first?" Gobber asked inquisitively. She smiled at the fond memory before being brought back to reality as another timber fell from one of the ships. "Here, why don't you let me start the salvaging before there's nothing left, Stoick."

"Good idea. Go ahead and get started then." Stoick turned his attention back to her. Was he smiling again? "Anyway, how much do you know about taming the beasts?" running her fingers through her long bangs, she thought for a moment. On her own, she doubted she'd make it. Then again, she hadn't been the only one hiccup taught.

"Well, I'm sure between some of the other riders and myself, we could manage. Why do you..." the winds picked up as the noises of beasts rumbling back towards the nest were heard, and suddenly it clicked in her mind. "You want them to fly home?" a strange look came over his face, one not exactly enthusiastic.

"I don't see us as having much choice. We'd be hard pressed to replace the whole fleet in a single summer back at Berk, let alone here. It might not be the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, but I think it'll work out. Somehow." She didn't know why, but suddenly she punched him again. His head turned back to her, almost laughing. "Though if you're doing the teaching, I'd be hard pressed to say you'll have problems with deviants." That was a definite smile." Now off with you, lass, there's work to be done, and training to do!" She smiled and began back, when Stoick called again. "Don't worry about Hiccup, I'll watch him til you're done at dusk today. You can see him then. Deal?"

Astrid turned her head back, and looked at Stoick the Vast with a wide smile on her face. "Deal."


	2. Fish

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Hey guys!" Astrid called to her fidgeting friends as she walked towards them. "We've got work to do. The Chief wants us to train everyone to be dragon-riders so they can fly home, with the damage done to the boats." She made it sound easy and they all knew it. Snotlout almost wanted to make a bragging comment despite, but backed down at the last second from her own stiff face.

"How are we going to do that? I mean the dragons are coming back, but there was nothing in the books I read about training them," Fishlegs managed. The boy's tactical head really had come in handy, but experience was definitely not his teacher. Nor was innovation, apparently, as his confused look lent itself to the Gronkle next to him. Hiccup had been there to guide the dragons into each of their respective hands when he took them out, and they hardly listened initially to their new riders until they got in the air. _Hiccup..._

"Well can't we just go around putting our hands on their heads?" Tuffnut asked.

"Are you kidding! Only Hiccup managed that!" Ruffnut shot back

"Well what about Snotlout?"

"Well what about Astrid?"

"Shut it!" Astrid yelled, stepping between the two. _What about me..._

"_It won't stay in my hand, Hiccup. What's wrong with it?" She had asked the boy._

"_Huh. My guess is it remembers you. From training, I mean." He had told her. "Go get some fish from the market. This should cover it, I think."_

"_What is fish going to do? And wait, which training?"_

"_That time you hit it with your ax stuck in my shield. Surely you remember that."_

He had been right. The nadder had taken the fish eagerly, even from her hand, and was a lot more tolerant of herself after that. _Where was the pesky thing anyway? _First the fish to lure them, and then the hand to 'bond' with them... but what then? A flock of Deadly Nadders landed not to far from them, inspecting the remains of the humongous dragon that Hiccup had killed. It wouldn't be too hard after that. The trust _would_ be the more difficult thing. The dragons had been quite accepting, except in Astrid's case, and that shouldn't be too much of an issue with the number of dragons that would probably be around soon.

"Hey, kids!" someone called from behind her. "The Chief sent us over to get us prepared for going home. You have any idea what he meant by that?" Astrid smiled, and she heard Fishlegs fidgeting his fingers in uncertainty. The twins just shrugged, and she didn't even give Snotlout enough time to start his bragging about riding a nightmare.

"Yea, I do. We're going to need you guys to get some fish. Lost of fish. Think you can do that?"

"Shouldn't be a problem, but whatever for?" another one asked.

"Dude, isn't it obvious what it's for?" Ruffnut said as monotone as possible, pointing behind her. Tuffnut could only agree. And somehow that itself had become a fight. Their zippleback behind them, catching on to their games, and to the distaste of the others, started trying to pry the duo apart. She turned back to the gathering crowd in front of her, and spoke again.

"Start gathering fish everyone! Catch as many as you can, however you can, and bring them back here. Once you've done that, we'll get started." Smiling, as some of them didn't get the message, she looked back out to them. "You are going to be flying home on the back of a dragon!"

- - - - -

"All right, Teacher Astrid, now that everyone's out and fishing, how are we going to teach them to fly?" Snotlout asked in his natural jeering voice. _Teacher Astrid? Who is he kidding..._

"They aren't really flying. All they need to do is to be able to steer, and that comes naturally to any good strong burly viking like yourself, doesn't it Snotlout?" Astrid snickered, smiling slightly. The twins to his left had somehow managed to catch my smile for the trap it was.

"Of course it does, Astrid. I'm the best there's ever been!" _pffft! _

"Then you won't mind teaching them that at all, I should think. After all, you are a self proclaimed natural." And then he was snared, trapped by his own pride. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you two take some fish once we have some and bring them over to that area under those rocks" Astrid continued, pointing away from the deathly beast's tail. "Give them one fish, and try to coax them into moving there. Fishlegs and I will get the other Vikings to bond with the most easily trusted dragons there with some more fish. From there, Snotlout will go through rotations of going through the basics of flying, and then have them experiment with flying but don't let them go home on their own. We'll have everyone leave in several waves tomorrow with one of us leading the way. Everyone got that?"

"Yes, ma'am," Fishlegs responded attentively. His gronkle snorted, enthused like him for some reason.

"Alright, then, everyone get to it. The first fish are coming in now, it looks like. You two 'Nut's ready? And I swear if you two start fighting _at all,_ I cannot guarantee you'll live to regret it. Got it?" Intimidation was an understatement, if one was to look at her face.

"I'm, uh, I'm going to go rest over there... with my nightmare... yea." _Jeez, am I_ that _intimidating? _

"Hey, uh Fishlegs?" Astrid asked, sitting down next to him. The big kid was practically sweating. "What... what made you always be kind to hiccup?"

"Well... um, he," Fishlegs sputtered. He had never been the most confident, but he had been kinder. "It just never seemed worth it. To make fun of him. I mean I'm not exactly mentally viking-like either. He's the closest thing I had to a friend."

"_Have_ to a friend. Don't go giving up on him yet. And you have the rest of us too. It's... just we have … a real viking way of showing it." Astrid smiled lightly. "I mean, I'm not really going to kill the twins if they get in a fight." He still looked unsure. "You got that?" she asked again, punching him lightly in the arm. Somehow, he cracked a slight smirk, and she smiled back.

"Yea, I... I think I got that, Astrid." she started getting up. "Thank you, for... for this."

"Your welcome. Alright looks like the twins have a few heading over there now. You ready?

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope. Come on. Watch, learn, and you'll be fine." She smiled again, daringly. It was going to be a long day.

- - - - -

"Well well well, how's the training going?" Stoick asked as Astrid closed in on his boat. It had hardly changed throughout the course of the day, but somehow the mast had been repaired. Toothless and Hiccup rested on the charred deck as she climbed aboard, practically jumping over the side. It hardly needed an answer as the dragons filled the sky, darting here and there with the vikings hanging on atop their backs.

"We're managing it, Chief," Astrid replied, peeking past him at the unconscious boy. "How's Hiccup doing?"

"He'll live..." the chief sighed, "Most likely. Though we'll have to get that foot of his off, it looks like. It's badly infected."

Disbelief filled her mind. Sure, battlescars were the pride of any Viking, but... but not crippling ones. Sure they made the best stories but... they lost their capability. She somehow managed to walk over to his side, his attendants doing their best to keep him in check. His foot was... even worse than it had been.

"You... you don't have to call me Chief, you know... not after all... after everything you've done..." She turned around to see him walking up behind her. The burly man was even more exhausted than her, a great deal simply from the emotions of the day. Vikings and strong emotions typically didn't mix well, unless it was anger or rage. "You're all vikings now... and... you can just call me Stoick... I think I'd prefer that from you, Astrid. If you don't mind, that is." He couldn't be thinking straight... could he?

"Of course... Stoick. I can do that..." He looked at her, and firmly placed a hand on her spiked shoulder. Physical pain was nothing to a Viking, after all.

"Yes, well, You look tired. Do yourself a favor and get some sleep." Removing his hand, she noticed the dots left from her shoulder pads had been. "I'll let the others know they can take a rest." She only nodded, laying up against the side of the sailing ship. She stole one last look at Hiccup and Toothless before settling in for the night.


	3. Eating

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"It's catching it! It's catching the wind, Gobber!"

"Well done, there. That the only one so far?"

"So far, but I've got the material for the second."

"Well, get ta work then. I only have so much underwear I salvaged, ya know. Have ta get home soon."

A smile wove it's way across the blonde's face in waking. It felt good to remove herself from the singed, soaked wall of the ship next to her. Back cracking, she stood up as stiff as the timber under her feet and stretched. She presumed that since she could see, the sun had come up some time ago. While not quarreling with her body, she was mildly annoyed that she had not risen before the sun for her sunrise training, even if she didn't have any of her weapons with her. Clothing not once coming to mind, she walked over to the commotion around Hiccup, as Stoick and some medical women spoke.

"With the state he's in, we ought to get rid of the knee as well," one woman said. Stoick only grunted in response, continuing to watch his son. "He never was the most physically capable Viking, Chief. If we keep the knee, then he's going to have to fight off what remains of that infection. He may not recover even with that amputation."

"My son can survive. He's always been healthy, despite the lack of strength and the trouble he gets into." Stoick seemed desperate, almost. He had his stubborn pride, and that alone had kept this conversation going on long enough for Astrid to wake up.

"Is it worth his life, though? Is it worth the risk of you boy's life?" Astrid sighed in sorrow, for what he'd have to go through. Knee or no knee, it wouldn't make much difference to him, would it? Her gaze traveled to the still soundly asleep Night Fury, and what remained of his tail. _His prosthetic tail... how had Hiccup controlled it?_

_Being stuck up in a tree by that mischevious dragon and his rider had greatly embarrased her. She had been lazily thrown onto a branch, and had only managed to keep from falling with her tough hands gripping the rough bark of the tree, sliding as she became steady. Looking up, some ring had been around the dragon's front left leg, a petal stemming from it, and a rope leading back to the tail. He was intelligent, she'd given him that even then..._

"You need to keep his knee. Let him keep his knee. Its worth the risk to him..." She spoke suddenly, reminded of how he had controlled Toothless. The group looked at her, curious to her outburst's origins. "He had to use his knee to control that prosthetic tail he made for Toothless. He and toothless will need that knee if they're ever to fly together again, and if that's taken away..." She trailed off, making a face, not wanting to think about that. Stoick beamed, now having the perfect reason to keep his son's knee on him. Just the look on his face made the head medical woman sigh in exasperation as she gave in.

"You know what to do, then." He nodded to the pair, walking back to the wall and sitting down next to the night fury, face returning to it's normal firmness. "Care for a seat, Astrid?"

"Eh, I slept sitting up Chi... Stoick." She smiled, letting the name slide around her mouth for a bit before hearing her stomach growl. "Besides, apparently its time to catch something to eat."

"There's some fish left over from the dragon training you set up yesterday. They should have a fire going on, so you can eat it cooked rather than pre-digested. Yes, I did hear a few... mild complaints about that..." He laughed slightly, before returning his gaze to Hiccup. "If anything happens, I'll let you know." Jumping off the boat, a call came from the deck. "Though, when you're done would you mind bringing some extra fish? Some of the men here have been working all morning, and..." _Yea, sure._

"I'll see what I can do," She managed, letting out a laugh. She figured she'd bring some uncooked ones for Toothless when he woke up, too.

"Astrid! You're up!" Ruffnut called to her, sneeringly. "Its about time."

"Yea, were you over there fawning over your boyfrie-OW!" Tuffnut received a punch before Astrid was in arm's length. She tuned the duo out as their quarrel escalated, becoming an outright brawl, the Zippleback walking over to try and seperate the duo. The two heads seemed genuinely annoyed. Chuckling, Astrid walked over to one of the fires going and grabbed a fish and a stick.

"Morning, Fishlegs, Snotlout," she said as she sat down on a nearby log she guessed had been a mast. Mounting the fish on the stick, she held it above the fire patiently.

"Morning Astrid. Did you see how good of a rider I made yesterday? Everyone managed to make it into the air that came to me." Snotlout was _still_ pleased with himself for that. Even though he had every reason to be proud of the genuine accomplishment, and it had been hard at times, she still hated his voice. Regardless, she nodded, smiling.

"How's Hiccup doing?" Fishlegs managed without stuttering as he pulled his fish from the fire. It looked burnt, but he nervously tried a bite anyway.

"He'll live," _probably, _"But his leg is going to have to be... amputated." She looked down, towards the flames with a glare that threatened to put it out. Fishlegs stopped his chewing and stared at her, and even Snotlout had a look of terror on his face. No doubt they remembered Gobber's stories of his lost hand and leg, but... _but that was different..._

"Wow..." he managed to say, still remorseful... no one said anything for a while after that as Astrid stared at the flames, trying to make them blink out of existance in a staring match she was intent on winning.

"You're fish is on fire."

"What?" She asked, looking up. "Oh." She removed the fish from the flames, and blew it out. It wasn't too burned, and it wasn't too repulsive either. Just how a viking might like it.

"Say, Astrid?" Snotlout asked, as she eyed him. "I'll take the first... flock back to Berk this afternoon." _Wow. Real initiative on his part. _He had changed, they all had. Even the twins weren't fighting as much... and Hiccup... _poor Hiccup... gets to have a _fake _leg._ She put two more fish on the stick and held them above the not so raging fire.

"Okay, but make sure you don't lose anyone. You got it?"

"Yea, no worries Ast..."

"Cause it won't be me who'll tell Stoick we lost people flying back to Berk." His confident face wavered slightly at the name of the Chief, but he persisted anyway. "Better prepare your flight plan and get your flock together."

"Good idea. I'll see you guys back at Berk, presuming you don't get lost." He managed back to herself and Fishlegs, and the dragon-riding twins as they approached. The Zippleback just watched him go, before focusing on the pile of fish as Ruffnut and Tuffnut came and sat down.

"What's with the glum faces, you two?" Tuffnut asked.

"Hiccup didn't die on us, did he?" Ruffnut asked.

"No he's... not... dead..." Fishlegs started out before the two could start fighting again. Eyes turned to him, his nerve ran out of length. "A-Astrid?"

"He... His leg is being amputated. And I'm supposed to bring some fish back for the Chief, so I'll catch you guys when I'm done." Getting up, she carried the stick with the two fish back over to the boat, when she noticed a great black wing shifting its weight across the boat, and a bobbling tail behind it. Suddenly it stopped, as a vast figure stepped to it's side and sat down. Astrid snuck up beside the boat, listening...


	4. Support

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"He's so different," She heard Stoick murmur softly to the dragon next to him. Something was definitely up. "I could never understand him." Astrid heard him sigh in exasperation. "He'd always been different. I remember the first time he made a fire. He hadn't been eager, but once he saw the little twigs and branches I'd gathered, he started setting them up right away. I laughed for a bit, before I saw what exactly he had been doing. You know what he did with them, Toother?"

Toothless just snorted once, looking at the Chief. He couldn't make out what he was saying, sure enough, and had not really wanted to listen. But he could feel Stoick's emotion, and tied with how tired he still was, simply remained at his side, listening to words he would never get while still comprehending the man.

"He built a miniature house out of them! I still don't get how he managed the slanted roof, but I knew he was smart then and there. How it stayed up so long, with his luck, I will never know." He paused again, and pulled the night fury into his lap in an embrace with his strong arms. "But I didn't see it then... I never managed it. It wasn't for another couple of years until I realized he was not the boy I had really wanted in life. His mother would have liked him... But she was... gone, just after his first birthday. I was so depressed..."

Toothless groaned. It wasn't an upset one though, it seemed... curious. His ears were... epithetic, from what she could tell. He felt Stoick's sorrow... maybe he knew why.

"I never have been a very good father to him these past years. His mother, I think, would have liked him, but without her I could never understand what he was... until now. And what did it take? And what it's cost... He might not even survive..." _No... NO! He-_ "I didn't even have any other kids to pay attention to, and all I was wrapped around in was how he was different. How I couldn't understand him. I always thought, 'How come he couldn't have been like Astrid? Now there's a real viking! Ten times the the honor, the strength Hiccup had, and a girl!' Still a girl, really, but not so much. She would've been able to compete with me at her age!" _How flattering!_ "I'd always look with envious eyes at her parents, and wanted to engage her to Hiccup, but I doubted it so badly... I mean I still do, but, she did save him in the ring against that Nightmare, before you arrived..."

Toothless perked his ears up, somehow understanding. He bobbed his head slightly with unknown meaning before settling again. _If only I could see his eyes. _"And I didn't. I probably caused the whole thing with that hammer, even. And then you saved him after that even... and then he saved me..." Stoick's thick arm lifted off toothless as he wiped his face of its wetness. _He's crying? _And I would've disowned him had I not left immediately... I would have had no heir... no son... no family." His head fell further down, probably resting on top of Toothless himself, and he wailed. It was a quiet plea, one that wouldn't go beyond her own ears probably, but still. _Its not your fault... I could have stopped it... I could have been better too... Its my fault too..._

"I don't know how I can make it up to him, Toother. What can I give him that he would actually _want_? I don't even know... What kind of a father am I?" _That's it, I can't take this any more!_

"You're a Viking father," She said, climbing into the boat next to him. "Your fish..." His face was damp, and his beard had become wet in certain places. There was no real pattern to it. His eyes were red from the tears, but were wide open from her surprise entrance. Toothless looked confused, but he too seemed sad in his big green eyes. He didn't quite get it, but he understood his regrets as a father. _He seems to have quite a few of them, too. So do I, Stoick, so do I. _

"Oh... thank you, Astrid. How... long had-"

"A while." She handed him the first fish, looking at hiccup to avoid his gaze. "Since you told the story of how he built a little house instead of a campfire."

"You... you heard all that?" He sniffled again, trying to regain his composure, taking a bite of fish. "Let Toother have the other one. He's probably even hungrier." She slipped the second fish of the stick, and put it in front of of the Night Fury.

"You mean Toothless." He sniffed the cooked fish, and seemed somewhat repelled by it. Yet, he reached out and slid it down his apparently large throat in one gulp anyway.

"Eh, I suppose so. Let Gobber know that, he was sure that's what his name was." The dragon let out a small belch sound, his eyes sagging slightly from it. The two let out a few laughs before it died down. Stoick looked at her for a while, before turning his head forward again. She would be the first to speak again.

"Its not all your fault either... Its ours too, Stoick. Mine too..." She sighed, turning back towards Hiccup and the two medicine women. They seemed to be finishing up with him, though she really didn't feel like scrutinizing the scene yet. "Most of the kids made fun of him for being so different. I plainly ignored him too, for a long time. Until he started messing up, and then _not _messing up, in dragon training." She sighed, looking back over to Stoick and Toothless. "None of us could figure it out... Only Fishlegs even gave him a chance... otherwise he was the outsider. It's not your fault he is who he is..."

"You... I'm nor sure I'm ready to believe that yet, not completely, not when it comes to me..." _and neither do I._ "but thank you, Astrid. It's nice to hear from someone besides Gobber now and then."

"Your welcome, Stoick." She turned back towards hiccup, and then remembered what he had said about her. "Did... Did you mean what you said about me?" She asked, still in relative disbelief of what she had heard from him.

He had apparently forgotten he'd mentioned that, as the edge of his beard turned red as he looked at her, thinking. She doubted he had even admitted that to Gobber... though he might have known since they could have and probably did grow up together. Battle Brothers, or something, she recalled her father saying at one point.

"You... you know it's not polite to eavesdrop," He managed. It seemed like he wanted to stop, but he managed to keep going anyway. "But, back to the point, yes. I did mean it. Every word. I'd been tempted to get Gobber to just give you the final exam to show the others how it's done, but he never did give in. I wanted you out there fighting, because you could... can handle yourself better than some grown men. Like Gobber." He coughed and wispered the last part, and she laughed. "Example being when you saved Hiccup from the Nightmare in the arena, which reminds me..." He threw his fish into the water, not caring for the remaining bones. "What got you so concerned about him?"

It was her turn to blush, and she did so red and hard. Stoick smiled so wide she would have sworn he was about to laugh, but somehow he didn't. "Well, when he was picked for the exam... I kinda followed him to where he had been working with Toothless... He was actually about to leave on Toothless, or that's what it seemed like anyway." She paused as Stoick became a bit more disheartened again, and wondered why. _Duh. He was running away from his father. Of course that'd make him feel bad! _"But I'm not completely certain!" Stoick didn't buy it, and she sighed in exasperation. "Anyway, I was trying to get him to tell me how he had become so... how he managed to beat me... and then this guy right here..." Astid rubbed Toothless on the nose, and he made a plesant sort of grumble, reminicent of a cat slightly. "...came up and practically got me. Would have too, if Hiccup hadn't stopped him. I tried to get back to the village to tell everyone what he had done, but they caught me first... and long story short, I had the ride of my life, we saw the nest and that... thing that Hiccup and Toothless killed yesterday, and for the first time a boy had actually impressed me."

"Impressed you?" Stoick asked with a smile. _Oh gods, did I say that out loud? To Hiccups Father! _She screamed inside, but the only hint of that was the blush on her cheeks, again. She looked down to a curious, if not amused, black dragon. _Does he remember that?_

"Nothing, never mind that, just ignore that." She said fussily, not really caring that he didn't believe it was 'nothing.' "Anyway, when we got back, I punched him for kidnapping me and... _thanked _him for the ride."

"So he didn't want to leave after you _thanked _ him?" He said smiling. She didn't get it.

"Yea... What about it?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all, Astrid." He was laughing. There _was_ something. Toothless knew it too, it looked like. _Ooh, I hate being out of the loop._ Suddenly, there were dragons everywhere above the boat, being ridden by Vikings. She managed to pick out Snotlout leading the group. "Would you look at that..." Stoick said in amazement. Even Toothless looked impressed at the formation above him, or at least he looked surprised. _Alright, he's looking, I can't tell what he's thinking from the bottom of that big head what he's thinking._ Her gaze returned to the dragons above, seemingly endless in rank, as they flew.

It was nothing less than amazing.


	5. Watching

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Would you look at that," one of the few jolly voices in Berk said as the last of the dragons in Snotlout's flock passed overhead. "More than I though'd be tamed and able to fly back to Berk." Stoick stood up to greet Gobber as his friend hobbled closer. "Looks as if that's not all o' them, either. About how many aren't going to be flying home, Stoick?"

"That's a good question, Gobber. Astrid, any idea?" He replied.

"Just the badly injured and those who've been busy here on the boats. If you don't mind, I'd like to sail back as well."

"It should be fine. That's maybe a hundred at most. Easily held by two boats."

"You sure work quick!" Stoick laughed mightily, slapping him on the back. "All right then, how long until that's fininshed?"

"They should be done by tomorrow if we work through the night. Don't expect there to be much rowing though, Stoick. I doubt I could find enough even if you wanted me to. The masts were hard enough as it is, let alone sails." The duo walked towards the rear of the ship, discussing plans for the voyage home.

"Guess that just leaves you and me, Toothless." He looked over to her from watching the women near Hiccup, and then looked back. _He's afraid... he's not sure what to do..._ "How about some lunch? I'm sure there's plenty of uncooked fish left." That got his attention, and oh did the glorified kitten want fish! He was up on all fours and over to her in an instant as she herself got up. Stepping out of the boat, Astrid heard a whine emit from said kitten. Looking back, he was watching Hiccup as he was attended to. He could tell Hiccup was in discomfort... and he was intent on letting no harm come to the boy. _Just like me. Maybe I should try wrestling Toothless sometime? _A smile crept across her face as she looked down his smooth body. For once, she would be the underdog in a contest. _Maybe when I'm a bit older. Back on topic, how do I get him to leave Hiccup?_

"Fishlegs!" She yelled across the beach. He called back, presumably in agnowlagement, but she couldn't hear him. "Come over here!" Astrid shouted back even louder than before. Toothless voiced his complains from the noise to her with a head nudge and ear flop accompanying a quick whine, as Fishlegs ran over to her. His bulky figure somehow didn't mess too much with his speed, though he was still slower than herself, and thus slower than she would have liked.

"You need something, Astrid?" he asked, timidly wary of Toothless next to her. The dragon's ears went back up, eying him with curious eyes.

"Yea. I need you to watch over Hiccup and make sure nothing happens to him. Toothless wants to make sure he's guarded properly."

"M-me?"

"Yes, you. Who else might I be talking to. Besides, you're a capable viking, aren't you?" _Is he intimidated by me, or by Toothless? _Picking up a sword leaning against the wall of the ship, she answered it herself. "Yes, you are." Handing him the sword, she whispered in his ear. "Come on, act like a viking! Toothless won't leave Hiccup unless he's convinced you'll protect him." Leaning back, she punched his arm softly and smirked.

"Uh, yea. Okay! I can do that!" Fishlegs seemed to enjoy his act he put on, as thin as it might have been to any viking. Still, Toothless was not a Viking, and indeed gave the boy credit as a relatively suitable guard in his stead. Jumping over the boat, Astrid followed quickly, practically running to keep up with the hungry dragon.

"Thanks, Fishlegs!" She called back as she ran. The kid beamed back at her, pride swelling in the Night Fury's belief in him. _Maybe he just needed a little more of that for his confidence._ Turning around, somehow Toothless had accelerated and was now a good deal ahead of her. Dragons made various noises at the prompt of a Night Fury running towards them, moving out of the way and startling the remaining vikings still in a rider's position. Some fell off, others slid down tails. One was thrown into the air, but there was no stopping Toothless. At last she caught up with him, and then she slipped...

… on a fish.

And she landed in fish, face first. Dead, smelly fish. Not far off she could hear the twins laughing with their Zippleback joining in for the fun of it. Turning back to Toothless, and off of the mound of fish, she stood up.

The Night Fury ate ferociously, devouring the fish one by one. His teeth were extended as he ate, but he still was rarely biting a fish more than once before swallowing it. She just stood there, watching. It was partial amazement, and partial horror at his quick meal, before he turned to her. She would have sworn Toothless had eaten a hundred fish, but she hadn't kept track. Astrid just stared. He stared right back. The wind slightly picked up and brought her to her senses. She smiled suddenly, wide and bright.

"Race you back to the boat, Toothless!" She yelled, running back to the boat. She heard clobbering behind her as the Night Fury started off. She looked back to see him spreading his wings, and quickly turned back, focusing on her own pace. It was no use, as the dragon passed her overhead in a short burst of flight. Smiling nonetheless, she was quickly back at the boat just behind Toothless. _Smart dragon he is!_

"Oh, good, you're back Astrid. The twins and I were thinking abut taking everyone else home tomorrow morning. Its getting kind of late, and if we started now there's a good chance of someone getting lost.

"Sounds like a good plan. Keep up the initiative, and Thanks for watching Hiccup for Toothless and I." She smiled, and noticed her face hurt to smile from having done so much of it lately.

"Sure, you're welcome. So... I can go back?"

"If you want to, you can go back. It is your choice."

"I probably should, in case my Gronkle wakes up."

"Ok, don't get lost!" she teased, as he hopped over the side onto the beach. Looking back, Toothless was right next to Hiccup, and staring at her. She walked over the the dragon and Hiccup, wrapped under a blanket laying down on a makeshift bed. She recognized it as the thing they had placed Toothless into when they left for the nest, but he didn't seem to care. Suddenly his gaze averted to another-

"Quenched Toother's huger, eh Astrid?" She heard behind her. "Looks like it was a mean meal. Smells like it too." Gobber was intelligent and all, but sometimes he was just too much, as her fist put it not so lightly.

"It's actually Toothless, Gobber. His teeth are retractable, apparently." She sat down against the back of the black beast laying around the makeshift bed they had moved Hiccup to during the dragon's meal. "He's such a strange dragon," She said kindly, moving her hand up and down the scaley back of Toothless.

"I'd never have guessed that any dragon would have retractable teeth. Then again, there's been a lot of things I'd never guessed happening. Hiccup actually making something that works; having a dragon be tamed; that monstrous dead thing over there... you getting the hiccu-Oi!"

"That's for saying that ridiculous statement, Gobber. Twice, now, I think."

"It's just a joke, Astrid." He looked over at the bed where Hiccup lay. "Then again, I suppose this isn't the proper time for jokes is it?" Gobber solemnly said, slowly sneaking away.

"No... it really isn't, I guess." Astrid sighed, tracing hiccup's small figure under the sheets of wool, and remnants of sails. His leg just abruptly stopping in the imprint it created, or would have created, atop the blankets now keeping him warm. A sudden light shriek sound came from the side of the bed. Toothless had his mouth wide open, slowly retracting his teeth as he... yawned? Laying his head down on the planks once again, he closed his eyes and lowered his ears preparing for a long slumber.

She smiled at the cute dragon yawn, smiling warmly as she continued to stroke his tough back. _Sleep well, Toothless._

- - -

**Low and behold, now I do an authors note. Yep, here we are. I guess I'll be doing one of these every five chapters or so.**

**In case you haven't noticed, I've been updating this most every weekday. I don't take a long time in writing these, and don't exactly get a chance to check everything over. It's a new type of process for me, and I'm coming to like it more and more. While the chapters are short, they appear more quickly (as opposed to some of my other stories _).**

**Anyway, I really appreciate the reviews you guys have given me. It's become more than just something to keep me going, and it's more than just feedback. Its genuine appreciation, and suggestions for work. Keybladem suggested Astid was too smart-seeming for one. While I do sort of disagree, It still made sense and I managed to work it into the story (if you can spot it, Kudos to you!). Special kudos to Took-Baggins and Operacynic for reviewing every chapter when they came out so far! Any review is always appreciated, but I especially enjoy the ones where people talk about what they like (example: I never realized I actually wrote Stoick Angst! LOL!)**


	6. Fatherhood

**Okay, you people... Are building my confidence to dangerous levels! THANK YOU TO ALLLL!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

Dead fish. _How do dreams smell like dead fish? _A distant plopping of the real world source of the stench echoed through her ears. It was morning on the boat, and as her eyes opened it was still rather dark. The early morning, the kind that she was used to waking up to back on Berk. Sitting up, her arms stretched preceding a yawn from the good sleep. It was nice that her back wasn't so sore this morning. What had she slept against? Turning, Astrid's eyes were met by the familiar shine of black dragon scales. Toothless was still asleep, wrapped around the makeshift bed Hiccup was in.

Hiccup had not moved from the night before, still laying on his back. The sheets over him had sunk in to pronounce his figure, or lack of one, overnight. His face looked better, but there were still wounds healing on his forehead and cheeks that would take a while before they weren't visible any longer, if they ever did fully heal. Leaning over the sleeping beast, her hand gently stroked his hair. It had been cleaned by the healers, she realized, and it felt much softer than it had right after the battle. Sliding it down his cheek and avoiding the injuries, she smiled softly to herself. _When are you going to wake up, Hiccup?_

"Astrid!" a voice boomed from behind her, "I didn't expect you'd be getting up this early."

"Early morning to you too, Stoick." Her response was hardly weary, even though she herself was. "Are we setting sail soon?"

"Yes. There's some other badly injured besides Hiccup, and Gobber's got this boat all ready to go. The others will follow in the second boat as soon as they finish it." Sweat dropped from his brow. He must have been up for at least an hour prior. "Those of us left have been gathering up what weapons were left, and anything else we can salvage here. Most of it is going in the other boat, though, since Toothless here is going to be ridding with us. I, uhh..." He paused, looking around for a moment, before turning back to her. "I take it you'll be coming with us, then? It appears you don't have a dragon around at the moment or anything. Besides the Night Fury here, I mean."

"No, I kinda planned going back on the boat. I'm not sure where my Nadder got to during the fight." Astrid sighed, walking over to the side of the boat. _I really should do some training at least..._ "What weapons are there over on the other ship?"

"Well, there's quite a few swords and axes, a couple of hammers, and a number of shields. Why?"

"It's been days since I last trained. Its part of my early morning routine, too. Would you mind if I didn't help with loading up the ships?"

"Oh, I think it's fine, but on one condition Astrid." _Oh, great, this ought to be good._

"What might that be, Stoick? Is there something that needs to be done by Toothless or something?" He scratched the back of his head, suddenly thinking.

"Eh, no, not really. Not that I can think of right now, anyway." He smiled, but what drove him to smile she couldn't tell. "I was thinking that, if you don't mind, I might join you for some training? It's not like I really got what I was expecting for a battle when we got here, ya know." She laughed slightly, amused.

"As long as you don't get in my way-"

"Me! In your way? You think I'm the head of the village for nothing?" He laughed boldly, echoing for miles around them. "If anything, it's you'll who be in my way, Astrid."

"I doubt it," she chuckled back, jumping over the side. "Come on then, lets get going! Its not like we have all day." She watched Stoick jump down, and could feel the sand slightly as it splashed up from the burly impact he made.

"Keep in mind, Gobber's probably still asleep. He probably worked late, and plus he's a late sleeper on the side."

"Oh, yea, we wouldn't want to wake him up now, would we?" _The last thing I need is for him to tell me I have a thing for the Hiccups again. _

- - -

The duo, walking back along the beach towards the boats let out an aura of bad smell composed of dead fish, sweat and persperation, combined with three days without new cloths. Stoick's cloths were no where to be found, and Astrid herself had been in too much of a hurry to care at the time she left. An interesting side effect was how well it had kept dragons away from the pair of vikings as they sparred and tested their Accuracy.

"I'll admit, you have great aim, Astrid, but you still need to work on how far you can throw." Stoick's sweat dripped through his beard as he spoke. "That's the only thing, and chances are it will come in time if your training schedule is what you told me."

"It is." She spoke with a breath she was still catching. "Today definitely made up for not doing anything yesterday." She laughed slightly, for what her breath allowed. _Maybe he really did pop a head off a dragon as a kid._ "About how long until we leave?"

"As soon as we get back, we'll set sail. We managed to find the map I had made when we were entering with Toothless. We'll be able to avoid having Toothless navigate out of the mist for us."

"Effective. Though I wonder how he's going to put up with the journey, giving it'll take several days, and he's not chained up this time..."

"He might as well be, so long as nothing happens to Hiccup."

"That's true, Astrid," Stoick replied as they stepped back onto the deck of the boat. "What do you know, he's still asleep."

"Wow. I never knew a dragon could sleep so long."

"Daylight isn't his element, Astrid, so I'm not surprised. He might wake up in the middle of the day, but I wouldn't be surprised if Toothless prefers the night sky above. They don't call his kind 'Night Fury' for nothing, after all." _I'm not an idiot, I know that. _She leaned down to rub the dragon's neck, seeing if that might make him wake up.

Waking up might not have been the right word, but there was a hint of pleasure to his movements. Before they could stop, Toothless rolled onto his back with the scratching, still in deep slumber. His mouth opened slightly, and his breathing picked up as the dragon made an unusual whine. Stopping, not sure if she should continue, the Night Fury just rested upon his back, nearly motionless save for his powerful lungs.

"Oversized flying pup, that's what he is. Loyal, obedient, intelligent. Why did we never try to train a dragon before?" Stoick murmured to himself.

"Too stubborn, I suppose. Though at this point you're still more stubborn than I am."

"I'll take that as a compliment." _Oh boy, there's the trademark Snotlout pride._ "Anyway, now that we're back, we should really start back to Berk. You stay here while I get some of the others to help us push off."

"Don't strain yourself, Chief!" She yelled. A whine was heard from behind her, and looking back Toothless had apparently awaken. Still on his back, his head was positioned in such a way that he could see her, although it wasn't easy. "What?" she asked, curious from his odd look.

Toothless groaned, and slowly rolled himself over. Watching him, she noticed that rolling over was not an easy thing for him. His wings moved slowly to certain positions as he righted himself. After about a minute or so, he managed to do it, and looked at her.

"What?" She asked even more insistantly. He licked his lips, continuing to look at her, Astrid not following. "I don't know what you want, Toothless."

Suddenly, the boat jerked and seemed to fall a little. The waves took it into the water, bobbing it back and forth. Toothless rushed over to the side of the boat, and looked over. He must have been amazed, as he simply watched the water, back and forth as they moved slowly out. Suddenly, he submerged his head down into it. _What in Valhalla is he... are those fish? Oh, of course, he's hungry again._

"Toothless, you want more fish?" His head snapped back to her, just watching her again. "Ok, ok, there's some over there," She pointed out, matching her voice to her hand. The Night Fury moved quickly along her hand's gaze and over to the pile of dead fish. Exasperated, she sat down on the deck.

"I don't know why you're tired, Astrid," Gobber said as he walked by, "You didn't push the boat off, nor did you ruin a leg by soaking it in water." She just laughed at the hulking man as he passed her. He smiled too, but was otherwise unphased.

"I see the dragon's up for the start of the voyage. You think he'll handle the water all right?" Stoick too was walking up to the front of the boat. He stopped for a moment to look at Hiccup.

"Doesn't seem to have a problem yet," she replied as the dragon returned to sitting around Hiccup's hardwood bed. "Though keep an eye on the food reserves."

"Good idea," Stoick replied as he made his way up to where Gobber stood. "I hope the winds are on our side."

And once again, dragons filled the sky, led by a Gronkle and a Zippleback, flying side by side. Astrid smiled, watching as the trio returned home in the lead. _We'll meet you there soon. I hope it's soon._ Her eyes darted back to hiccup, as he made a slight sound. Toothless shot up, examining his head as it turned slightly green. _I don't know how else I'll manage a seasick, unconscious Hiccup and worrisome, overprotective Toothless. Odin is just asking for it, I guess._ Her eyes rolled at the stupid thought, watching the others come about Hiccup to make sure he was alright... and that he would _stay_ alright.


	7. Hands

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Sunlight and visibility at last!" she heard her teacher shout from the front of the ship. She too was glad to be rid of the fog and rocks surrounding the nest. Toothless seemed so too, taking the opportunity to stretch his wings out and catch the strong breeze pushing the craft back towards Berk. "And do you feel the wind, Stoick? Its at high speed and just the right angle for the quickest trip home. Thank Thor!"

"Indeed it is, Gobber." Stoick laughed slightly as he stood up to take in the view. "Bright and sunny, sky as blue as can be, and not a cloud in the sky! The Gods must be pleased!" Astrid smiled, as she walked alongside the now retracted wings of the dragon over to get a good look at Hiccup under the light. Tranquility surrounded the boy, who's bout of seasickness had thankfully left him. "We might manage to make it home in under five days, Gobber!"

"Four, probably, maybe even three Stoick." Astrid was no navigator, but it had been a couple of weeks before the last raid before this had returned, battered. The winds must be good for such time to be made. Looking back down in front of her, she smiled. _What a sleeping cutie._

_Wait... since when do _I _think of things as _cute?_ Must be something in the fish we've been eating... _Toothless bumped his head under her hand as he too gazed at Hiccup. He wined at her, wanting Hiccup to wake up.

"Me too, Toothless, me too..." She slid down his neck, and sat next to him in her bordom. Normally, she would have done some training if she was bored. Here on the ship, if you destroyed something on accident, it probably wouldn't go over well with the rest of the vikings onboard. A distinct thud could be heard, and she looked towards the front to see Gobber coming towards them, carrying a couple of empty storage crates. "What are those for?"

"The boxes? Sitting and a desk for some work."

"What kind of work are you planning on doing?" The possibility of a blacksmith doing work at sea seems unrealistic. _What kind of work does a blacksmith do without a forge?_

"Well," he said, fidgeting with something on the deck, "Hiccup's going to want to be able to walk again, right?" Just then, he lifted up a strange object and laid it down next to the boy's missing leg segment. It took a moment for her to realize what it was exactly.

"Oh... right, a new leg..."

"Yep, a new leg. And in order to do that, I'm going to need to take some measurements. I put some measurement equipment in this leg, in case I ever need them." He paused. "I cant help but think I'm fogettin' something."

"Well, what might you be forgetting? Relating to Hiccup?"

"Yea, about his fancy leg of his. Can you do me a favor an' bring that thing over there to me?"

"Sure," she replied, walking over to the thick leather... _what is this thing?_

"I need to look at that foot control you told me about. Have ta make sure he's still capable of controlling Toother here."

"Toothless!" _That is one big saddle._ It was very well made, she had to admit. "How come you made this without figuring out what Hiccup was doing, Gobber?" she asked as her strong arms lifted up the chunk of refined leather.

"I didn' make it, lass." Toothless looked at her, his ears up and eyes wide open curiously. She didn't pay attention, instead turning to Gobber. "You thought I'd made this? I'm flattered but no. As experienced as I am, Hiccup is better than me, in regards of quality. Still takes him all day to do one generic weapon, rather than a half dozen like myself, but he's got the hands for it. Thank you, jus' place it on this other crate here." Putting it down so he could look at the petal, she reexamined the saddle of the Night Fury.

It was consistent in quality up and down the sides, carefully cut and put together. The only real imperfections had been wear and tear from use, and the black burns that had turned it stiff. Touching one, it flaked under the pressure, and she heard Toothless snort behind her. "What do you mean he has the hands for it?"

"His hands are small and fine. Not like mine. Granted, usually I'm using my arm strength and elbow to grind and hammer swords and axes sharp. Mine are large, strong, durable." He held up his own hand to her face, giving her a look at the scarred hands of her teacher. "Hiccups, well, they're not as strong. Nor are they durable, but they work well. I had to stop and watch him one day to work his wonders on a custom weapon that came from your father, actually, a few years back. He was finishing it up, supposedly, though it had already been three days and, as I found out later, would go another one." For a moment, he was lost in his examination of the petal control. "Really a wondrous design he came up with. Thats another reason he's a good blacksmith, but it's his hands that put him a good couple of ranks above me. Odin, he coulda been an artisan with those hands! Not that that's the most important part of being a viking, though is it?"

"I suppose not," she laughed. "So what is it about his hands that make him so good?"

"His precision. His accuracy with a hammer. It's just something you can't teach, no matter how hard you try. Granted, even my tools are big in his hands, so he actually made his own set he uses. Dinky little things, really. But by the Gods he's just excellent with them. Gimme a moment, here, Astrid."

She did, curious about Hiccups hands. _What makes them so precise? _Slowly moving his arm from under the blanket, her only brief distraction was a concise, high pitch noise from Toothless. Her eyes met his for a moment, before looking at his hand that she laid on top of the makeshift blanket. She was surprised by what she saw.

"He's never gotten hurt that much, either. Too good for it." It was true, his hands were clean, but that's not why she was initially surprised. "Even I get burned more than Hiccup. He is a wonder." She moved her hand, feeling his wrist and moving it down the smooth skin. "I suppose I shoulda told him that. Maybe he'd not have felt such a need to be a warrior then..." His hidden regrets slowed her slightly, as she picked up his hand by the wrist, and put her own alongside it.

_They're... smaller than mine, even. No wonder..._ They weren't much smaller, but there they were, mesmerizing. "You should let him know that then," she told Gobber, eyes not leaving Hiccups hand cradled in her own.

"I suppose." He laughed for a moment, turning from his work to her. "Ya know, he was always begging to get out of the forge during attacks. Clumsy as he is, it was never his safety that was my first concern." He paused, and she placed his hand back under the cover gently. "I never thought he'd live up to his fathers reputation, and I never really pushed him to. He could easily have made his own as a great blacksmith, forger of such precise weapons that rumors would circulate he had serviced Thor's hammer even. I never wanted his skill to wind up getting lopped of, as mine had." He raised his missing hand to her. "Even the scars on my other hand have affected my work, even. He might be Stoick's son, but between you and me, I've probably taught him more thing's he'll continue to use as opposed to the Chief."

"Wow. I never knew you were the praising kind, Gobber." Astrid moved over to see what he was doing, drawing in a book of some sort.

"I'm not. He's just been my apprentice for so long, I can't help but feel for the boy. Honestly, I feel kind of inadequate trying to design his leg for him. I'm not really sure how to get that flair he always puts into his work on it." The bulky man leaned back, looking at his own leg still sitting on the bed.

"What do you mean by flair?" She asked, sitting down on the beaten saddle still atop the crate.

"I... can't really explain it. I mean it's... that," Gobber muttered, gesturing to what she sat upon. Looking down, she saw the petal, and out of curiosity, just put her foot into it. She leaned if forward and backwards a couple of times, feeling it as she watched it. "Wait!" He suddenly yelled.

"What! Did I break it?"

"How would I know, I didn' build it. But just... stay... there!" He said enthusiastically, drawing madly in his book. "Do that some more."

"This?" she asked, moving her foot on the pedal again.

"Yes, that's it! Perfect! That's just what it needs for him to fly... and it'll solve the flair problem, too, but that's besides the point." He gave her a toothy grin "It needs to have some sort of... extending feature that will be in place of his ankle. A new pedal is going to be in order probably, but that shouldn't bee too difficult." She looked over at the plan, and noticed how it's odd design. It was like... almost a catapult. It was the closest thing she could describe it to. Suddenly, a noise came from across the bed.

Toothless had sat up, perched on his tail, staring at the pair as their own eyes diverted towards his. _This is new... "_Toothless?"

"It's Toother," Gobber muttered to her.

"It's Toothless! Tooth. Less. Okay?!" she yelled, waving her arms up. A slight smacking sound came from the dragon across from her, and she looked back at him.

"I think he's hungry." Her arm's dropped to her sides in exasperation, eyes peering towards the sun. _This is ridiculous! Why is he attaching himself to me so much? He can do it on his own. _Sighing in defeat, Astrid gave in.

"All right, come on Toothless, lets get you some more fish." Her hand came to his neck as his front legs landed on the deck, straining under the sudden force. Gobber just smiled as she walked past him, side by side with the once most lethal dragon known to the vikings.

The Night Fury didn't care how annoyed she was. He was hungry! And Gobber would be able to watch Hiccup while he had his meal. _Why, oh why, is it me?_


	8. Wing

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

_Dragon Army. Thats what her uniform said, floating in air as if it were water. Swimming had been useless, and her own movement was like that of gripless ice. She bounced off one wall to a box, passing other bodies in the smooth metal box she was in. Astrid set herself up, aiming her weapon down towards the other 'army' soldiers, and steadied. Her weapon was a bow that fired arrows of light, invisible, towards her target. She launched bolt after bolt at the helpless boys on the other side, and smiled. Suddenly a pair of them slid along one wall, and aimed at her back before she could move._

"OW!" She called as she awoke with a start as a heavy foot rested on her back. "Toothless!" This had been the third night she had woken up, and this had been the third night it had been because of the Night Fury. Rolling over, the pair of green eyes were as lit as the moon, partially obstructed by the beast's stretching wings. The stars were shining brightly overhead as she sat up, they and the moon illuminating the boat. A flicker of flame came close by, and Toothless just stared at it. "What?" she whined to him, annoyed. He just whined back, following in step as they approached the lamp.

"Astrid, what keeps you up at this time o' night?" a voice came from the lamp. _No, that's Gobber talking, not the lamp. Please let us get to Berk tomorrow..._

"Night Fury keeps waking me up. I think he's trying to kill me." Her voice was monotone, but being tired as she was, thought it was true. "Just drawing it out as long as possible." He laughed heartily, before returning his attention to the table.

"I've come up with a number of designs for a new foot and new petal mechanism, but I don' know which one to choose. I mean, it's hardly going to be a good walking platform with the way it bounces up an' down."

"Let me look," she replied, turning his paper to face her. _It's a bunch of scribbles. Sleep. Kill. Axe. Where is my axe?_ After a moment she could see how the lines were plans for various legs and saddles. _Axe is still at home, right..._

"This one here," Gobber pointed to the upper right drawing, "makes it easiest to walk and move around. It's latching mechanism is good, though he'd seriously hurt his leg if it twisted even at all while he was flying." It had a rounded bottom, curved from the side view like a portion of a wheel. "It'd also make it hard to stand."

"Probably not that one, then." Her mind stopped for a moment, wondering why she said that. "Yes, I'm dictating your decision apparently, since you can't decide."

"Any input is appreciated, Astrid. Though I'd feel more confident if you were more awake. Go douse your head in sea water, that ought to wake you up."

"Okay." Removing herself from the crate's side, she grabbed a bucket and walked to the edge of the boat. Leaning down, the bucket initially resisted going into the water. _Turn it sideways. Fine._ Frigid liquid poured into the wooden bucket before she hoisted it up and put it on the deck. Kneeling down, her hands entered, and shivered, making a cusp to carry the water to her face.

_Cold! Very, very cold!. Okay, awake, cold! _A strange, low pitch laugh erupted from behind her figure. Looking back, her eyes spotted the pair of green glowing moons in the night, and a mouth heaving in what sounded like dragon laughter. _Oh! You freaking-!_ Grabbing the now partially empty bucket, she threw the water over on top of his head. Toothless let out a yip as the cold water spread across his scales, and practically jumped in the air in surprise. Getting his senses back, her own eyes matched the Night Fury's in tone, annoyance with one another.

Then he shook. Rustled his body back and forth, drying himself as he spun the water off of him,_ and deliberately onto me. I give up!_ Defeated, she dried off and returned to Gobber, pulling up a crate to the left of him. Toothless curled up around the duo, head looking on from Astrid's own left.

"I didn' say take a bath, lass. YOW-ooh, hoo hoo!" He yielded under her strong arms, enhanced with the ever growing annoyance from this night. "Now that legitimately hurt!" His eyes were met with her own glare, and oddly one from Toothless as well. She gave him a scratch just behind his ear, and the Night Fury's eyes closed in comfort.

"So here's the second design I came up with. Its just a slight modification of a normal leg, just with the extending feature. Not so great for flying, but he'd be able to walk easy. Not the most stable thing though." She caught him glancing down at the leg he wore instead of his own flesh leg, noticing how thin it was compared to the rest of his leg.

"And what's the third option?"

"Well, I don't really like it that much. Terrible for walking, really, though I suppose he'd get used to it. It was actually my first design. Anyway, its this one." He pointed to the low, middle one. It was very square, compared to the other two. "It'd have to be made of mostly metal, though it'd be easier for standing than the other two. It's the first one I thought of, thinking mainly about getting it to hook into the petal of his without changing a whole lot. It'd be the easiest to fly with, plus you could still operate the petal with a normal foot if necessary. It's going to be heavy though. Not so heavy he can't handle it, but it'll mean he may need help walking for life, or at least he develops the muscles for it. An' we both know how good of muscles he has when it comes to being a viking, eh Astrid?

"Yes, I suppose so, Gobber. But I get the feeling that he'd go with that one actually."

"The third one, that he can hardly walk with?"

"Think about it. He's probably more concerned with flying than walking. Toothless only leaves him when I go a short distance away, like right now. If I went to the back of the boat like yesterday, he doesn't follow. About the only way I get a break from him." She paused, locking eyes with the green moons on her left for a moment. "Plus, that actually looks like something Hiccup would think of." He turned the paper back to look at it himself, and smiled.

"What do ya know? I suppose it does have Hiccup's flair for design in it."

"You're welcome, Gobber. Just keep going with that design. I'm going to try to get some shuteye, despite big, black, and not-sleepy over here." He laughed.

"Good luck wit' that!" She smiled walking away, perching herself against the head of the bed, sitting up. Toothless curled up around the rest of the bed, head on one side of her and tail on the other. Her gaze shifted to the stars, and her eyes closed.

_I guess there is a lot that you need to be a good blacksmith. I've known Gobber was the best at it, but I didn't know he drew like that. It's pretty good, actually. I see where they may be an artisan to be a good blacksmith. All this time, and Hiccup has been brilliant at something we barely even knew existed. I wonder if Toothless knows... _

Something spread over her body quickly covering it. Startled, she awoke and almost stood up, before the two wide open green eyes came into gaze. His wing was stretched over her, almost resting on her shoulders in the back. The Night Fury had moved slightly, in order to cover her slumber. _He must have thought I was asleep. _She smiled warmly at Toothless, who eased up on his wing and lowered it down onto her as she closed her eyes and laid back again.And her tiredness returned to her, yawning as it did.

_I guess he's not so bad, after all._


	9. Purpose

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

The familiar horn blew high up above the harbor as the ship sailed into the empty harbor. It was a strange feeling from the lack of ships, and the excess of... 'peaceful' dragons. Astrid watched as people flocked to the docks to meet Stoick and the ship in the harbor. Next to her crate she sat upon lay hiccup, and around him was the unbelievable Night Fury, the stuff of legends and lore going back seven generations. His head lowered as they moved onto the docks, and let a small growl voice his displeasure with the group.

"It's okay, Toothless. They're not going to do anything. Just... ignore them." She stroked the beast's neck firmly, doing her best to keep him in check. He quickly moved his head upward and over, shaking her hands off her neck. "Everything will be fine, okay?"

Toothless grumbled again, softer and less threatening than before, and she put her arm back behind his ear, just holding it there. The dragon's eyes were narrow, sharp with suspicion of the crowd that he and his kind had once called enemy. It was a feeling that was mutual as Astrid stared at the dragons around, sleeping on the dock as the sun rose, or watching above the ship from the rooftops. _He's afraid. You fear what you don't understand. I'm afraid._

Green eyes opened wide as she embraced the black scaly neck of the Night Fury, surprised by the sudden embrace. She lay over him for a moment, where his saddle had been, before sitting up again. Their eyes met, and there was an unspoken understanding between the pair.

"Stoick!" she heard a man call as the Chief stepped off the battered boat onto the only open dock that the dragons had cleared. "We've heard from those that returned of what Hiccup has done! Tell us, is it true?" A vast laugh followed, echoing off the far cliffs, and a few dragons looked up in surprise. Toothless just snorted, for whatever reason he had. Dragon reasons.

"It be true, true indeed. He quelled the most foul of beasts upon the Night Fury!" He was village Chief, and this was his voice of pride, no matter what he felt. A couple of speeches on the boat, and Astrid had recognized it after speaking with him when the crew wasn't listening.

"Well let us meet him, then! Honor the son of Stoick! Give a Hurrah to Hiccup!" He replied back. The crowd caught on to the last statement, chanting it behind him. '_Hurrah for Hiccup!' Celebrate when he wakes up. _They would celebrate either way, life or death. It was the Viking way, and for once, she found herself not wishing to follow tradition, glorious as it may be.

"He is... still recovering. Make a path, and have the head healer wait outside the Chieftain House at the top of the hill while we bring him up." Stoick stepped back into the boat, and turned back around. "And do not agitate the Night Fury. At all. Period."

The mention of the Night Fury was enough to make some step back. Children ran to their mothers, or tried to fight their way up to 'quell the beast' for glory. They never got far, and as the people stepped aside, Stoick motioned Gobber to the other side of the bed. Toothless growled again, but moved and stood behind the duo, intent on following Hiccup wherever they took him. The two heaved the thick makeshift bed into the air, and began to walk towards the dock. Toothless followed the burly men, noble strut on four legs as he crawled over the side. Astrid remained, simply standing up and watching them go, watching like every one else in silence. Halfway up the cliff, the dragon suddenly stopped, and turned it's head.

The monster's eyes were calling her. Toothless eyes. _Why aren't I there? I should be there. I should be there! _She ran and jumped over the side of the boat and onto the planks of the dock, running up behind Hiccup and Toothless. The black dragon slithered its head around and raced itself to catch up to the wonder boy who had downed and befriended him, and she fought through the crowd to catch up. It was hardly a consideration as to who she bumped or pushed people to make her way through. _He knows where he should be, and now so do I._

- - -

Astrid panted slightly as she walked beside his faithful Night Fury into the Chieftain House as Stoick lifted his body gently and brought it to the table in the middle of the room before setting it down.

"Gobber, help me bring Hiccup's bed downstairs," Stoick said, moving for the staircase

"Down here? In Thor's name, what are you thinking of accomplishing with this weird re-designation of your rooms?" Gobber asked.

"Well, you think he's going to have much room in that bedroom upstairs." Stoick pointed at Toothless, who cocked his head to one side, raising one ear.

"Ah." Gobber followed Stoick up the stairs, leaving Toothless and Astrid with Hiccup and the head healer, now checking over Hiccup. _Toothless must be accustomed to these women by now._ "Makes sense enough, I suppose."

Toothless looked on as the healer's hands moved about Hiccup's body. He was absolutely insistent on following the procedures move for move. Her own eyes studied the closed eyes and their contours, and the once goofy smile he wore on his face and how she remembers it. He'd worn that smile numerous times, even before that day when she'd been taken on the ride of her life. It wasn't charming then... it was annoying. _Vikings don't have silly smiles, they have mean ones._ He'd always be thinking about something besides what he was supposed to as far as she was concerned. _It's probably been Toothless since he started Dragon Training. _Toothless gave her a grunt and a nudge, as if he had heard her thoughts.

The green eyes stared at her, and then it quickly looked back at the healer, and back at her. In her confusion, he did it several more times... _what in Odin's name is he thinking? _It could be that he wanted to know who she was, but why would he be asking Astrid then? No, this had to do with her, and then she watched his eyes... they were following the hands, before looking back to her. In her thoughts, somewhere along the line it clicked; 'Why aren't you doing that?' _Why aren't I doing that? Why would I be doing that..._

"Astrid, can you make some room?" Stoick asked, interrupting her thoughts as the pair walked down the steps with a bed. She obliged, scooting away to the side of the room.

"Toothless," Astrid quickly nudged the dragon, "Move your tail," indicating it with a point, and it wagged over to her, under her hand. The thump of the bed hitting the ground followed, and Stoick slid him into the bed as the healer went out. The dragon's head nudged its way under her arm, and the four watched the boy in silence, the quiet breaths the only solemn tale of purpose in the room.


	10. Dawn

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

The door closed as quietly behind her as Astrid carried her weapons, most prominently her large throwing ax thrown over her shoulder. The sun was still hiding under the horizon, and the clouds above glowed orange and pink. She would always carry everything along with her, even though she wouldn't train with most of it. It made her battle ready while carrying all of her equipment, and her legs could handle any obstacle without them from carrying so much. The ax was the most important item to her, though, as it was the main way she increased her already considerable arm strength.

She was just on the edge of the woods when footsteps approached her from behind. Turning around and bringing her ax to a fighting position, she was surprised at who it was.

"Well, you've got good ears too, I see," came the reply of Stoick the Vast as he walked up to her, unphased. "No one's going to ambush you and come out on top. Off to training?" _Yes, he's intent on joining me again. Well, then, I am going to get something out of it, training wise or Hiccup wise, I don't care._

"Well, if you're going to come, you're going to have to show me how you got your arm strength up, or at least help me get mine up." She made the motion for him to follow her into the woods as she turned back to walk. "So how's Toothless doing?"

"He's doing fine, still sleeping. I never knew dragons slept upside down like that, though later he had curled up around Hiccup's bed when I left." Stoick followed her in, "You ever try lifting boulders?"

"Rock lifting? I've always trained with real weapons that I can use."

"Ah, trust me, you can't peak your strength unless you push yourself way past what anyone would normally do. Bashing your head against a rock, carrying a boulder up a mountain step by step-"

"I don't know about carrying it all the way up, Stoick," she replied thrashing a bush. "Maybe up a hill, but not all the way up to the peaks."

"Of course. Astrid, it took me years before I could do it without stopping, and even more before I could do it in one day and be back in Berk by lunch. Lets go over in that field, there's some good rocks there, if I remember. Used to be excavated there for construction, back when I was your age."

"Huh." The place was well overgrown as she walked towards it, but sure enough a large pit with various sized rocks lay around. "Any idea what I should start with?" The burly man looked around, and jumped down into the pit.

"Come down here," he said, and she let her legs absorb the shock from the fall as she landed. _My feet are definitely going to feel that tonight._ "Try this one, its several times heavier than that ax of yours." Astrid took the large rock. It _was_ heavy, though not quite enough to quickly tire her arms out. "Good conditioning, very good conditioning," Stoick murmured, "Just as I thought. Now, Astrid, carry it up out of the mine at as far up the hill as you can."

"All right, Stoick," She managed, starting up the trail back to the lush grass above.

"Gobber's starting up work on Hiccup's new leg this afternoon." Stoick sounded destracted as she did her best to listen. She was at a third of the climb and it seemed to be getting a bit heavier in her arms. "He mentioned how he hasn't worked without hiccup on a serious project in a while, or any apprentice for that matter."

"Huh," was all she could manage to say back as she grunted up the weed infested, winding trail.

"Yea. He's thinking of getting a temporary apprentice until Hiccup can get back to work, which may be a while because of the leg. I remember when Gobber lost his... took him a good couple of months before he figured out a working routine. Though losing the hand a few weeks earlier certainly didn't help, either."

"Gotcha," she grunted as they neared the top. The winding trail certainly hadn't seemed so far from the bottom.

"Problem is, there isn't really anyone willing to work with him. There never has been a large wish to be a blacksmith in the Viking population. Though now that we're not fighting dragons, people are going to need something to do..." His voice drowned out as her thoughts that weren't upon the rock she carried moved to her former teacher's shop. _That'd be a start at finding out how to get to Hiccup. I guess I know what I'm doing after training this morning. _For the first time that morning, she smiled to herself as her feet stepped on the grass in front of her. It was a high hill, but she intended to get all the way.

The inside of Gobber's shop was filled with broken and repaired tools, recovered from the invasion. The man sat near a window at a desk, looking over a number of papers, mumbling to himself. Pots hung from the ceiling above, and a stench of dragon fire on metal weapons filled the air, emanating from ashes from a furnace and the thick anvil upon the ground.

"So I heard you were looking for some help," she said in a voice she hardly believed was her own. For the first time she was uncertain about herself, entering a realm she knew nothing about. _Did Hiccup feel this way when he met Toothless?_ Astrid wasn't sure. Uncertainty was suddenly filled by courage as her pride swept over her worries, becoming a shield itself.

"Yes..." He replied, standing and turning around to look at the blonde girl. "Tho I can say I hardly expected ta find you wanting to give me a hand in this."

"Its good to know a lot," she made up, "And I think it's important that I know the strengths and weaknesses of individual weapons if I ever come across them, or need to use them in unexpected ways..."

"Well, lass, I'm not workin' on weapons now. I need ta work on Hiccup's new leg, and it's turning out ta be a real headache." Annoyed, he sat back down with a thud, and she moved to look over his shoulder. "I've got the design down, even with the petal, but I'm just not sure where to start. I mean, look at this thing! I know I designed it, but I can't help feelin' like it's still Hiccup's work. The way it hinges, moves up an' down. Makes no sense in my head, lass." Her eyes moved, distracted, to a destroyed... thing on the floor, pieces in a nearby bucket.

"What was this thing?" she asked. He looked over

"Oh, that was one of Hiccup's inventions. Might 'ave been the one he got ol' Toother-"

"Toothless..."

"-with. Never did put it back together, an'... hey, I don' think you shoul'd be touching that stuff!" too late, she had picked up a worm like piece of metal that had been wrapped around some kind of pole at an angle. Pulling on it, the strange piece bounced back into shape. Astrid pulled again, and held it this time as she pulled it longer and longer. To her surprise, it became harder and harder to keep it at the same length she held it at. "That's it!" Gobber suddenly yelled, coming over to look at the weird thing. "That's what I can put in the leg to keep it extended! Go get his drawings from in the small room over there, Astrid."

"Does this mean you'll teach me about being a Bla-"

"To yer horn's content, lass. Now get a move on! We ought ta finish this before he wakes!" Her success might have been accidental, but she felt accomplished nonetheless. She smiled, feeling one step closer to her favorite heart in Berk.

**Lol! Opaul, impeccable timing. I just was sitting down to start writing and you'd left your review :D well I plan on continuing ****updating this every weekday****, and appreciate any review. Suggestions are also welcome, as we hit the roughly halfway point of our journey here. If this is successful enough (and who's saying it hasn't been already?), I may actually write a sequel for what might happen after the movie. At the moment, I'm not thinking about it too hard.**

**I don't really have too much to say, oddly enough, though I think I may be getting a bit of writers block. Not really sure, though for this I'm not going to let that stop me, nor my increasingly busy schedule.**

**Oh, and if you can't tell what she picked up that Gobber's so ecstatic about, its a spring. Not sure if they had those back then, but I wouldn't put it past Hiccup to come up with that as a concept for his moving cannon that was destroyed after he shot down Toothless. Makes sense that's what is in that peg leg of his in the movie too, I think. I'll have to go see it again :-P**

**Edit: Eidorian999 no worries, I did remember that but just didn't clarify he lost his hand first ^_^ and the way I see it, that spring is sort of an ankle, but rather than turn, it just extends and contracts so Hiccup can still fly Toothless (Gobber: I'm a blacksmith, not a doctor. Or a troll, for that matter...) Good points though!**

**Laters!**


	11. Cracking

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

Astrid creaked the door open to the dark room, only lit by the sunlight creaking in from the afternoon sun. Toothless watched her enter, curled up around the bed as usual, with only one eye. He'd hardly moved in several days from around the bed, so much as anyone could tell. She spent what time she could in the Chieftain House, but she did have strength training in the morning and blacksmith training in the late afternoons and evenings, and slept back in her own house. It wasn't exactly her choice but there were some things even the most skilled person her age couldn't accomplish. Parents were one of them.

She laughed slightly as she knelt down next to toothless and scratched his neck. His head turned slightly, and his mouth opened a bit as the dragon made an amusing growl of enjoyment. Her eyes turned to the pale skinned head sticking out from under the sheets. The covers moved slightly up and down as the boy breathed, thankfully in a regular rhythm. She wasn't sure if that was how strong his chest was actually, or if he was still immensely weak from the fight.

The boy was a weakling. _He can't fight by himself, can barely hold a weapon, can't defend himself, doesn't hunt, and doesn't fit in at all. He's gone against the village, and against his own father, the Chief of the village and the best viking in Berk. He is small, hardly strong, doesn't train, and doesn't follow common sense nor authority very well at all._

_So why am I so captured by him?_

It was a question she'd had in the back of her mind for a while, and it always came back to her whenever she visited Hiccup. It drove her crazy, and usually happened later, and she would avoid it by heading out to do something.

This time it started as she came in, and she wasn't about to leave this early. Slumping down next to toothless, she leaned back. Taken by surprise at the girl leaning on him, Toothless looked over at her, turning his head as far as he could to see her, but she was only startled when a loud crack came from his neck, and the Night Fury momentarily squinted. His large eyes stared into hers, but she kept looking at his neck. It had never done that before, nor any other part of the beast. It only happened when she occasionally slept in, and even then it was in her arms and legs. Not her neck. _I wonder what the issue is with him..._

A Night Fury was no ordinary dragon. That had always been known, since they never stole food and they never would show themselves for a 'fair' fight. The catapult dragon had been its other name, being a role of a supporter of the battle, always keeping the viking on their toes. Now they, _well, Toothless,_ was not an ordinary dragon for the fact he was missing part of his tail wing, or that he was a legendary Night Fury. Toothless was intelligent, and more specifically, _emotionally _intelligent. He could tell what most humans were thinking, probably learning from Hiccup as Hiccup learned from him. Toothless, as she had learned, showed emotion well. Annoyance and rage, obviously, but she'd seen him smile, knew he was protective, and could comprehend concern as well. More extraordinarily, he could show concern. And as he finally turned his head forward again, laying it down on the ground, she saw yet another.

"Toothless, you're stubborn. You know that?" He just snorted in response. He could probably even tell her tone, but something was wrong with him. It was evident he didn't much care, either. His only concern was for Hiccup.

_When is Hiccup going to wake? I can't figure out Toothless like him, or how to figure out what's wrong with him. _Astrid stood up, shaking her head as she headed for one of Stoick's large chairs. Slumping down into it, she stared at the boy, then back to the dragon, and back to the boy. _And I get to take care of both of them. _She chuckled at the thought slightly, before realizing Toothless had opened an eye at her. After a moment, they both let their heads down to rest.

Her mind wandered to winter, and the fun she had in years past as life went on. Snowball fights with whoever was playing. She had gotten a pair of snowshoes several years back, and still didn't know who had made them, but even her father recognized the quality of them. She loved winter hiking around the island, dealing with the white cold fluff. The summers, also known as raiding season from the dragon raids, were fun for fighting with her fellow vikings, but the harder fight was with the harshest of winter. The though of it was a sanctuary from the world, like it was when she was actually out in the frozen wonderland of winter, purple cloth clashing with her blonde hair.

Once she had gotten stuck when she was little, before she had the shoes. It wasn't too cold, but when her parents got her out at the end of the day her joints were incredibly stiff. It was hard to walk from how still she had been. They cracked a lot. _They cracked a lot... wait..._

_He hasn't really flown since Hiccup got knocked unconscious, has he? No, he hasn't... He needs a new tail fin... and Hiccup. _Her head shot up as she realized what toothless needed.

"Stay here, Toothless," Astrid said as she got up and headed to the door. The Night Fury looked at her, curious of her outburst. Paying no attention, she darted out of the door and stepped out into the windy afternoon. Feet shuffling through the grass, she swiftly moved down the hill and over to Gobber's workshop. It wasn't like he'd mind if she was early, as long as she didn't get in the way. And if she did, which she wouldn't, there wasn't much he could do about it. No matter what happened, one thing was certain.

Gobber was going to have yet another project to do alongside Hiccup's new leg.


	12. Thoughts

**Sorry about the missed update, life is sucking me in. Should be OK by Monday, though, presuming I get over this annoying writers block.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"A shield," she huffed. "I find that drawing drawer of Hiccup's and what does Gobber have me do?" She huffed in frustration. He might have been right that she wasn't ready for such a complicated project, but still. _I could be making myself an ax, or a sword. _The rivets kept giving her trouble as she put them into the wooden shield with Hiccup's small tools. They fit her hands much better than Gobbers large set, although they still were slightly small to her according to Gobber.

But not being used to proper size tools, Astrid took to them right away, as dignified as the best warrior turned weapon-maker could possibly be. It wasn't very high, but she had a newly found appreciation for her weapons, and for Hiccup and even Gobber as well.

Earlier she had cut a number of wooden planks into the circular patten they used for viking round shields, and was currently doing the final jointing process with the pesky metal pieces that held the center together. If you didn't hit them just right, they wouldn't go in, and would clumsily scrape and mangle the wood they were supposed to hold together. Still, she had managed to make a satisfactory shield the day before, on her third attempt.

Her hammer struck lightly against the rivet, sinking it deeper into the wood. She had found that using less strength not only made her more accurate with the tools, but also would damage the wood less when she did miss her mark. Gobber had explained that the shield taught basic skills of construction and manipulation of metal. Just because it was true didn't mean she liked it.

Knocking the final rivet into place, she laid it down on the floor next to several other shields. Some of the shields would be sent to get painted, while others were left as they were. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she walked into the room where Gobber was.

"How's the fin coming?" she asked. Red fabric now overstretched the metal bones of the tail wing replacement, and a belt loop was in the remaining hand of the Blacksmith as he worked on attaching it to the base of the wing.

"It's comin' tho I could use a hand if ya don' mind," He replied. Obliging, Astrid held the base as Gobber carefully placed the belt into place, securing it. "Thanks, lass, though I realized somethin' else that we'll have to have done in order for Hiccup to fly ol' Toother once he's up."

Her hand met her forehead as her hair shook from side to side from disdain for Gobber's personal nickname for Toothless, but by now there was no way she would break him of the habit. _Just leave that to Hiccup..._

"So we're going to need to fix up his old saddle, then?"

"I found his drawings, actually. Tough thing ta make, tho I've made a few horse saddles and found a copy of those plans along with it. The condition those things are in, it'd just be better to make a new one with the new petal design for the leg. Oh, I got that leg mostly finished." He motioned to the side table, some boxy pieces of metal. "The tough part now is ta assemble it, and then ta get it on 'is leg."

She sighed, coming back to the replacement leg again. It didn't look too heavy, but there was no doubt in her mind it would take some getting used to. _How can someone swim without two legs? Or run at the enemy with appreciable speed, or get away from them quickly? _Gobber stood up and she moved out of his way, getting materials for the new riding gear. _Then I never have known him to do much swimming..._

An image of the boys in the summer watering hole formed in her mind, in years past. Some of the older teens were as strong as Snotlout, though few really looked respectable in her eyes. The girls usually would swim on other days, but her own group mostly consisted of guys besides Ruffnut. Water-wrestling was a common activity, and when it wasn't that it was jumping from the high cliffside that bordered the deep end.

Hiccup, to her knowledge, had never water wrestled once. Come to think of it, the only times he was there was when his father took him. Even then he came fully dressed, and stayed fully dressed. Once he had fallen into the water at the docks, so she knew he could swim. _Though we'll see if he still can, I suppose..._

"Hey, Astrid," someone called through an open window, "We're cooking chicken up on one of the catapult towers. Our training group is there. You wanna come?"

"Sure, Fishlegs," Astrid answered, pulled from her thoughts. "I'll be there as soon as I'm done here." _What do I have to do here still?_

"All right, be there soon before Snotlout eats all the chicken!" Fishlegs called as he hustled up towards the tower. It had been one of their private eating places during Dragon Training, although Hiccup usually skipped out soon after the meal started, assuming he came at all. To visit Toothless.

She found herself sitting down at Hiccup's desk, looking through a couple of his drawers. Several papers caught her eye. Taking them, she went through them, placing them on the desk one by one. The first was one of Toothless, a relatively detailed sketch of his head. It was very reminiscent of him, with the exception of many of the lines being quickly drawn, and had angled corners rather than smooth curves like the paintings on the shields she had frequently seen lately. The second was also of toothless, but it was one of him sleeping, smoothly drawn and curved. It looked like it had been hurriedly torn out of a book.

The third was of a girl, a beautiful girl. _What is this doing in here? _It hardly seemed plausible to keep something like this in a workshop. It too looked like it had been ripped out of a book. Suddenly it hit her; this was one of the girls Hiccup liked, or at least had liked. It was a wonderful drawing... _but who is it? I need to find out who this girl is... By Thor's hammer, Hiccup will be mine!_

"Astrid! If you're going ta get ta dinner, you'd better get goin'!" She ran out without a second thought to the saddle or shields as she folded up the drawing for later.


	13. Discussion

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Hey, Astrid! About time you got up here!" Ruffnut called as Astrid walked over to the fire. "Snotlout's still going on about 'Dragon-esque' figures.

"He think's you're butt is getting bigger," Tuffnut sneered at the two girls.

"It's a good thing!" He yelled, as Ruffnut punched her brother in the shoulder. Astrid just grabbed his leg of meat and hit him in the head mildly hard, toppling him backwards onto the wooden planks. His complaints were minute compared to the brawl that had erupted across from him, a sibling duel to the death -until the first detraction.

"So what were you doing at the blacksmith shop earlier, Astrid?" Fishlegs asked. The more than adequate detraction halted both the action on one side of the fire and the stream of complaints on the other. Biting into the meat that she had taken from Snotlout, she took a moment to explain while chewing.

"Well, Gobber's working on some new things for Hiccup and Toothless. Since Hiccup obviously can't help him right now," she swallowed the smoked meat, "I volunteered to help out." She took another bite. "I've learned a lot about weapons along the way. Good stuff I hadn't thought of before." For a moment, chewing was the only sound heard besides the crackle of the flame.

"Huh," Ruffnut replied, breaking the silence. "Didn't think you were the kind of person who liked learning, Astrid."

"Are you kidding? She's just doing it to get closer to her boy-friend." Tuffnut laughed mockingly, before the meatless bone beaned him in the head before Ruffnut could punch him. She just laughed viciously at her brother. Her own face was red, masked by her intense anger. _Do not mock what you cannot hope to defeat._ Fishlegs gave a slight smirk too, and the grin across Snotlout's face made it worth it, but they weren't the same.

"Actually, so far all I've made is shields. Gobber says the rest are a lot more time intensive and complex. It's taken me days to get the hang of shields anyway so it's just as well."

"Huh," Fishlegs finally said back. "He give you any manual on them or anything else?"

"What, you wanna know even _more_ meaningless facts, Fishie?" Snotlout mocked. The boy curled back slightly from the jest, and looked back to her.

"Don't worry about it, he's harmless," Astrid joked. The boy turned to her and looked slightly hurt.

"I am not harmless! I'm the mightiest one here-Ow!" He hadn't seen her get up in his endless pride to punch him, and this time it _was_ full force. Even the twins leaned on each other as they laughed as Astrid sat back down.

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Ruffnut mocked loudly, to which somehow Tuffnut took offense, and in turn Ruffnut kicked him in the knee. Ignoring the pain, he fought back as the two engaged in their second brawl since her arrival.

"Hey Snotlout, Fishlegs?" Astrid asked. "Why do you think the twins fight so much?" Their quarrel immediately came to a halt, hands still interlocked in combat as they looked over. Snotlout piped up first, pride sweeping back in.

"I bet it's because they feel inferior to each other." a pair of growls erupted, and they started fidgeting again while still listening in. "It only makes sense that if they get rid of the other one, they'll get more food and be able to train for some real muscle, like this!" He flexed one arm, and even the twins looked shocked. Astrid herself wasn't as bulky as he, but she was plenty strong despite her lean body. She grabbed Fishleg's hat off of his own head and socked his helm, making a vicious noise as it shook. Their quarrel was immediately forgotten as their laughter seemingly echoed across the whole isle.

"Actually," Fishlegs managed to speak up as she handed him his horned helmet back, "I think it's good they fight so much." Eyes were fixed on him in an instant. "Think about how much training they get in during the day. Not only that, they have to keep coming up with new ways to... get at one another." The group continued to stare at him, and even the twins sat back down.

"I'd never thought of it that way before."

"Of course you wouldn't, idiot!"

"Neither would you!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

Their sibling training session re-engaged itself as the duo clung and swiped once again at one another. _Wow, they might even fight _more_ now..._

"Hey, Astrid, you wanna do some training with me like that sometime?" Snotlout smirked. She was about to hit him, when a thought occurred to her.

"Nah, why don't you train with Fighlegs instead!" She pushed him up and over to the bragger, and the two just stared at one another, uncertain of what to do next. As funny as it was, the Twinnuts didn't interrupt their fight for the scene. Snotlout apparently looked him over, his apparent bulk and size perhaps intimidating him, but that wasn't it. Instead he smiled.

"Sure, why not." Now the twins stopped their fighting in suprise. _Good hearing, I'll give them that._ "Only guy here that would be a challenge for someone like myself." He punched Fishlegs in the arm, and he too smiled after a moment. "How about it?" For a moment, uncertainty was plain on his face despite the smile, and then he punched back, smiling wider.

"Sure thing, I'll train with you. Might have to teach me some stuff though."

"Hey, I got the village to fly home, I can teach you everything there is to know about fighting!" The two sat down next to one another, and Snotlout started talking about how he trained and how a real viking should fight. Fishlegs listened intently, not caring about the heavy ego that dripped from his mouth, occasionally posing situations. Between Twinnuts fight, and the combat talk, she smiled as she gazed through a hole in the clouds at the night sky.

Suddenly, she bolted over and down the stairs, her eyes peering at the clouds above. It was going to rain soon, and the storm in the distance looked bad. She hadn't gone to visit Hiccup and Toothless at the Chieftain House on the hill yet this evening, and it was a long run away.


	14. Diplomacy

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

_This is impossible!_

Stoick had enough sense that he took everything he didn't want broken out of the main room of the Chieftain House, but not quite enough to take absolutely everything out besides the necessities. Astrid heard yet another thing break as Toothless scampered about, growling slightly as he avoided her. _How did Hiccup ever manage this..._

Gobber watched, grinning at the girl's attempts, as they failed one by one. The saddle was rolled up on her shoulder as she tried to maintain a grip on him somewhere, anywhere. She had come back early from her morning practice to get it on. Unfortunately, toothless had other ideas. What he had against the saddle, she had no clue.

"You haven't flown... for... like, two weeks Toothless! You... need a... workout..." She panted, glad to have ended training early as she panted. _I've been at this for an hour... What do I have to do to get this overgrown, stubborn salamander to cooperate?!?_ She tossed the heavy saddle onto the nearby, overturned chair in exasperation. "Do you want to fly with hiccup when he wakes up? You expect going a month without flying will leave you at your best, Toothless? Huh?" Intensely irate now, she approached the large black dragon, staring him down. He growled. "Too bad. You want to be at your best for him!" She pointed to the bed. "Then I suggest you get this thing on and get a good workout."

The dragon moved in front of her, his pose suggesting smugness despite her anger. _You want a piece of this, Night Fury? You want a piece of _me_? That is it!_ The blond caught the dragon by surprise as she lunged at his head, pulling on him furiously.

"Wow. Stoick never gets this angry. Must be tha' time of the munth." If Astrid hadn't been wrestling with the now overturned dragon, she'd make him need another fake limb. In the end, it went to trying to pin Toothless. She fought and slid as Toothless rolled across the floor trying to get her off. Finally he rolled into a large cabinet that she managed to get to fall on the dragon. He was pinned, exausted, and eyed her angrily.

"You want out?" She mocked as she walked back and picked up the saddle. "You've got one choice." His eyes looked to the window, and turned his head slightly. "Well, what's it going to be?" After a minute, his head turned back to her, eyes sullen in defeat, and gave a nod. _Finally!_

And in victory, the adrenaline driving her subsided, leaving the fatigue of the miniature battle with the beast. Wearily, she moved over to the chair and sat down. "Okay Gobber, get him out and get that... thing on him." He hesitated. "Gobber?"

"Yes, yes, just give me a bit ta get o'er my astonishment of your accomplishment." He replied walking. Her eyes diverted from Toothless, letting out a slight groan as Gobber lifted up the large cabinet with a heavy heave. They focused on the boy sleeping near her in the bed, watching him enviously. _I could use some rest too... Toothless can wait... Maybe I should just train with him every morning..._

"So this is the petal, then," Astrid muttered to herself as she slid her foot into it. "It seems... off."

"Well it's designed for his new leg. Real feet... weren't my first concern," Gobber replied. "Thought I tol' ya that."

"Yea, you did." She replied. "I'm still a bit tired." Now on the saddle, she gave Toothless a scratch on the neck. He'd gotten a rest too from the fight. "You'll watch Hiccup while were out, right?"

"Course I will. Don' worry about a thing." Toothless grumbled, looking back at the house.

"You wanna get back there, don't you?" Astrid asked. Toothless gave an affirmative yelp. "All right then, lets see..." Her eyes set their gaze on the petal, and she pushed it with her foot, rotating it. Looking back, the tailwing came out from its folded position, and she was ready. "Okay, lets give it a go-whoooooaaaaah!!!"

Toothless took off with a mighty burst of speed, rushing up into the air. Her still tired legs put their effort into staying on while keeping the petal down, and her fingers grasped the saddle. _This was supposed to just be a _test run_! Can't he slow down?_ The sleek night flier slid into the clouds with ease towards the afternoon sun, twisting and turning. Time after time his tail didn't match what he was doing, and they fell for a time from an undeployed wing or Toothless pushing Astrid too far. _Is he trying to throw me off?_ Her arms didn't give to the dragons whims, nor were her own whims upheld by the dragon. It was more than a flight.

It was continuation from earlier, and this time Toothless had the advantage.

And Toothless was the aggressor, intent on regaining his lost dignity.

_How did Hiccup ever keep this over-aggressive, irritating, violent, deadly beast of a dragon in line? Let alone get respect out of it. I just don't get it. _Her mind wandered as she became more used to the constant maneuvers the dragon did, before in exhaustion he settled down to some generic gliding.

"Tired Toothless?" She mocked. He managed to hit her with one of his ears, and she yielded an arm off her saddle in pain. He swooped down, but still her harness kept her in and she fought for control back, pulling in turn on his ears. The pain from it made him level out, and they were gliding again, low to the ground. She spotted a Deadly Nadder, all on its own, chasing down a boar close to the training arena they had once fought such dragons in. _I wonder if... I'll check up on it later._ Her mental note made, she came back to toothless as he spat fire forward in anger at his ears being pulled. She sighed.

"Typical," was all she muttered before entering the burning cloud.

The duo landed, as exhausted as before, just as the shadows started to blend into one another as evening came. Stoick had brought some fish home for Toothless, though he didn't realize Astrid was also hungry.

"You think he'd mind if I had one of the fish?" She asked Gobber, sitting next to her, watching Toothless as he swooped the fish up with his mouth like a cyclone.

"Doubt it, if there were any left." Sighing, her empty stomach growled and a long black ear perked up and listened. A second later, Toothless walked over to the two.

"What? I'm not going to-" Suddenly, Toothless got up on his hind legs, and sat using his tail as a built in stool. Her mouth was left open for a moment as she stared at the face looking down from his seat on the ground. Her stomach growled again, and he leaned forward. "E-Easy, Toothless." She was too tired for another fight, and hadn't eaten since the early morning, after forgetting to have lunch. "It's just my stoma..." _What the...?_

Toothless made a grudging sound as his eyes dilated, his throat like that of a frog. Suddenly, A fish landed in her lap, and he just watched her. She looked down at the fish, and her hunger subsided and grew five times simultaneously. She looked back up, and he licked his lips and did a funny human smile imitation. She smiled back, and gave in despite the grotesque saliva covering the fish. Forgetting about the bone, she took as large a bite as she could, chewed and swallowed. Toothless just watched her as she finished the fish, before laying at her feet. She scratched his neck, and he made a light prrr-like growl.

"Ya know..." Gobber suddenly interjected, "I think that's the most repulsive an' disgusting thing I've ever seen, Astrid."

Oddly enough, she didn't care as she bit into the fish yet again. _Take that, 'thing for the Hiccups' blacksmith!_


	15. Walking

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters**

"Hey, Gobber," Stoick called, opening the door. The threesome looked over. "How'd you manage to get that leg on with Toothless around? Thought you said it'd be noisy."

"It was noisy, but I did it while Toother was out flying with Astrid." He laughed. "Most exausted I'e ever seen either of 'em!" Toothless just eyed the muscular man, but Astrid's wicked streak was strong, as evidenced by the dead carcass of the fish now flying at Gobber's face. The spine caught in his long braided mustache, and his laugh halted in his stumble backwards. Stoick himself chuckled as his friend regained composure.

"Ya don' know where tha' thing has been!" he shot back to Stoick, explaining. He just laughed louder, before.

"So, you have any ideas yet about what to do with all these dragons, Gobber?" Stoick asked. _Do? Do what?_

"Well, ya know tha' cavern goin' under the village? Was thinking we build our way down there and keep most o'em there. Still though we ought ta have a few surface dens, but I got those all planned own already. Just need yer approval, Stoick."

"Sounds adequate, Gobber. Go ahead with these... Dragon Dens? That sound adequate." Gobber shrugged.

"Seems apt enough ta me."

Astrid turned back to Toothless as the duo went back inside. To her bewilderment, the beast turned and followed them in without a second look. _I guess I can't blame him, he's been away for so long. Then again, I don't get to sleep with Hiccup..._ her face blushed from the idea spontaneously, and shook the thought off as she regained her composure, glad no one else was around, while walking home.

She walked down the hill, still remembering the exhilaration of riding Toothless, despite his lack of cooperation until the end. There was still the matter of finding that potentially unowned Nadder around the training grounds. She passed the marketplace, full of fish. What boats remained struggled to maintain supply of fish adequate for many of the dragons, but somehow they managed. Gobber had discussed the possibility of some super fishing ships, large enough to have dragons help catch their food and bring them back, or sail far with the beasts while maintaining enough to eat each day. _Dragon-Viking raids would be very effective against enemies... So long as the ships actually work._

As shops closed around her, their stock packed in bags to be stored away for the night, she joined her mother who had stuck around for a time after buying dinner. She told her mother of how she fought and struggled with Toothless, and her thrilling ride on the Night Fury as well. She was indeed impressed by her daughters exploits, and heaved her in the air for a moment. Astrid Shrieked, as usual, and smiled like she had every time since the first spring she could remember.

Her mother was having more difficulty with her dragon, another Deadly Nadder, and wished she could spend more time trying to train with it. Apparently, even when she did make the time, the beast was hardly interested. Apparently, many of the dragons, despite flying back with their paired viking, were having immense difficulty adjusting to the new life, presuming they were trying at all. Astrid had been so concerned with Toothless and Hiccup, training and working with Gobber that she'd forgotten to make connections with the rest of the village. It was a sort of plea from her mother, not wanting to be left behind the times and stay strong with the village, for advice. Astrid told her about the fish, and to start small, but otherwise hardly had any ideas. Sure, she was almost as good with the lone Night Fury in the village as Hiccup had been, but that didn't necessarily translate to Nadders and Gronkles, exactly.

Her father was already home when she entered, tending to the firewood. He had already started the fire for dinner, as usual, and was chopping the wood outside with his own battle ax. One of the reasons her family preferred them over swords was their versatility; you can't drop a thick tree with a sword, nor can you throw it accurately. Sure, they had some on the wall, and knew how to use them, but it wasn't their way.

She was lucky to have one of the few houses that had two floors, but when you're family is full of some of the best fighters on the island, you get special privileges. She even had a window to look out of, towards the forest and hills on the edge of the village, as well as some buildings and the house where Hiccup was resting, as Toothless was curled up around it, sleeping.

With the thought of sleeping, her own mind laid her down on the bed for a much needed rest. Her mind wandered from dinner, after having eaten already. Looking back, she doubted she'd have eaten such a gross meal either, but she was hardly thinking then she was so tired. But what was done was done, and if push came to shove in the future... it wasn't such a bad option.

Even still, she was tired from the day. Her mind slipped into sleep, softly lining her steps with cotton into the framework of her dreams... _still need to check on that Nadder... Will do tomorrow..._

_Immersed by rainbows, the starry sky welcomed her flight as she piloted Toothless calmly through the crescent moon, Hiccup riding behind her. Suddenly, she felt the urge to descend under the clouds and the wind blew in her face. Berk was lit by the fire towers dotting the village and its surroundings. Her mind rushed as spray flew at her from flying just above the water top, Hiccup smiling. She couldn't see him, but she could somehow feel it._

_And then she was in battle, a long spear in her hand and shield in the other as Toothless charged an enemy. They were shadows, cast in black and unidentifiable by nature. Her ferocity increased as she charged them, before Toothless took off. He grabbed one and threw it into another, and screeched as he charged up his deathly accurate flame. There would be no happy end in this battle for them, and her lust for combat was high. Victory would belong to Vikings this day. Another swoop, and she noticed as they turned Hiccup was not behind her._

"_Focus, Astrid!" She heard Toothless yell in what she would have sworn was her own voice._

"_You focus!" She yelled back, before it hit her. "You talk?!"_

"_Battle now! Talk later!"_

"_All right, then," She gave in. "It's on!" And they swooped again, tearing up legions of the shadow creatures._

**Well, Life is calling, and unfortunately there is no answering machine for me... still doing my best here. And now we are about three quarters of the way through, and closing fast! And yea... I'll have to get on that pedal-petal really a Stirrup thing lol! Get there eventually, thanks for pointing that out! Yea, it seems I'm getting into a sort of writers block, this chapter just doesn't seem to have the same feel... eh, though when am I ever happy with my own work? (Ans: when I get lots of reviews, but thats not the point :-P ) **

**Anyhow, with how I'm feeling right now, I'll eventually get to a sequal, but not until something like June or even July. Plus, an old story idea's been coming back to me that I really want to give a shot again after this, providing I get over my writers block by then.**

**There's not much left that needs connecting between the two scenes, now. Astrid needs her dragon still, a few other things... oh and the Dragons Den thing came out of the Video game, with the cave. It seemed logical. But anyway, I won't drabble on any longer, for fear of going crazy.**

_**Hiccup: Too late for that**_

**Quiet you! You're unconscious still!!! heheheheheh... LATERS!**


End file.
